Two Women And a Man Found Slain

By PETER MARKS

Published: March 11, 1993

Three people were found shot to death execution-style yesterday afternoon in an apartment near the northern end of Central Park, the police said.

The bodies of two women and a man were discovered about 4 P.M. in Apartment 53 on the fifth floor of 225 West 110th Street. All three victims had been gagged and shot in the head, the police said. The man was also bound and his throat had been slashed, they said.

Authorities last night identified the women as Sharon Sobers, 21 years old, and Rachel Davis, 20, who both lived in Apartment 53, according to Officer Andrew McInnis, a police spokesman. The man remained unidentified, he said.

But neighbors said one of the women who lived in the apartment was named Sharon Davis. Those interviewed said they knew the other woman only as Rachel.

The women were found on a bed in one bedroom, and the man was discovered lying face down on the floor in another, the police said. They said no weapon was found at the scene.

The police provided few other details about the killings, and they declined to suggest a motive. Detectives from the 28th Precinct were in the building throughout the afternoon and evening, interviewing neighbors and potential witnesses. Neighbors Shaken

Residents of the six-story building, located near Central Park, were stunned and shaken by the slayings, the first serious crime any of them could remember in their building. The described it as family oriented and generally quiet, a building of older people, young families and artists, where everyone knew everyone else.

None of those interviewed said they had seen or heard anything unusual in the hours before the bodies were discovered. "This makes me very nervous," said a resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "It's a pretty secure building. You don't get any kinds of robberies or anything."

Neighbors were uncertain how long the two women occupied Apartment 53, though some said that the woman they knew as Sharon Davis had lived across the hall with her mother for many years before moving into Apartment 53. Another neighbor said the woman she knew as Rachel had previously lived on the fourth floor.

Steven Siegal, a 30-year-old Columbia University student who has lived in the building for eight years, said of the women, "They both seemed very nice, very friendly."

Other neighbors described the young women as boisterous and gregarious.

"They were lovely, very nice girls," said Kay Fields, who said she has lived on the third floor of the building for many years. "They were very fashionable. They would wear leather coats, suede coats, the latest things, the latest styles. When I saw them they were always laughing."

Janice Daniels, a clerical worker who said she has lived on the fifth floor for 15 years, said one of the women sometimes borrowed tools and other household items from her. She said that at times they made a lot of noise in the hallway with visitors, but she didn't mind.

"They would hang out in the hallway, making a racket, laughing and talking and hollering," Ms. Daniels said. Complaints

But another former fifth-floor neighbor, who declined to be identified, said he had complained several times about the noise and the number of people who always seemed to be coming in and out of Apartment 53. "Our floor got to be worse than the other floors," he said.

For hours after the slayings were discovered, residents of the building stood around the lobby, talking about the crime that had come to their doorstep. Minion Devron, a 40-year-old actor, called the deaths "a waste" and said, "It happens so much around here."

Photo: The bodies of two women and a man found shot to death last night on the Upper West Side were placed in a police van outside the building at 225 West 110th Street. All three had been bound and gagged, the police said. (Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times) Map shows site of triple slaying.